4.2.2.2.2. Talking about the future

An early practical need is to understand how people make commitments and predictions. “I'll come visit you tomorrow” is a commitment. “My mother is coming tomorrow” is a prediction.

Techniques: If the LRP naturally describes your pictures in a present time form (“This man is ploughing”), then she may be able to make a statement about what the person will do next. If you are focusing on learning to comprehend the forms used to talk about the future, you might want to keep the other content of what the LRP says relatively simple. For example, you could simply use the verbs for sitting and standing. If a person is sitting, the LRP can tell you that the person will stand up. If the person is standing, the LRP can tell you that the person will sit down. Similarly you could use the verbs for working and resting. Or if you have already developed a large recognition vocabulary you could have your LRP simply make predictions about what the person or persons in the picture will do next (after they finish doing what they are doing in the picture): “In this picture, this man is ploughing. Soon he will go home.”

You can also learn to understand future time forms through TPR and object manipulation. Your LRP can tell you what she is going to do and then do it. Or she can tell you what your co-learner is going to do, and your co-learner fulfills the prediction. In similar ways, you can learn to understand future forms with a variety of pronouns.